Hospitable Aggieland in hurricane’s hazardous path

COLLEGE STATION — I finally know what “quiet before the storm” really means.

Here at 2 a.m. Friday morning in Aggieland, it’s extremely peaceful. I even called my wife out on the porch a couple of hours ago in this clear darkness to show her a curious, hazy, beautiful ring around the moon — one that featured some colors of the rainbow.

Maybe some meteorologist compadres — and I know there’s plenty of Aggies in that field — can let me know if that was somehow related to Hurricane Ike.

Just like always in time of need, Bryan-College Station has stepped up big-time in this hour, with Reed Arena and other shelters once again set up to house loads of evacuees from the coast.

I’ll never forget three years ago watching the Tulane men’s basketball team, which stayed at A&M for a semester following Hurricane Katrina, take on cross-town New Orleans in a nearly empty Reed Arena in late November. The two Louisiana schools might have only played before a handful of fans, but it was one of the most heart-tugging games I’ve covered.

What’s different this time around, however, is that Aggieland is right in this hurricane’s path — even as once again evacuees flow into Brazos County. And forecasts have said Ol’ Ike could still be a Category 1 when it rolls through this neck of the prairie.

A&M is closed today, the Aggies football team was already off this weekend, thank goodness, and a soccer match has been canceled and a cross country meet postponed. Good thing.

That way folks can focus on getting though this storm this weekend, and worry about sports later.

We’ve got three nephews and nieces attending A&M right now, and we’ve invited them over to our house in Bryan to ride this son of a gun out. We also invited my parents to come up from Spring, and get out from under those tall pine trees.

Not sure if any of them are going to take us up on it at this point. I’ve found old people and youngsters can be stubborn in such situations — it’s the ones in the middle who seem to take the most precaution.